Hobbs and Gallego React to the Latest Department of Interior Report Regarding the Colorado River

A week after Governor Katie Hobbs hosted a gathering of local, tribal, state, and federal Arizona leaders to discuss Arizona Drought Resilience Infrastructure Plans and funding, the “Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to potentially revise the current interim operating guidelines for the near-term operation of Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams.”

This is a situation that affects six other Southwestern States in addition to Arizona. They are California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

With Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act funding to proposed drought resilience projects soon to be considered by the Biden/Harris Administration, the federal government, with this report, is hoping to stir action and agreement among the states that rely on waters (and the electric power it generates in areas like the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams) from the Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Lake Powell to come to an agreement on usage in this current, despite record rain falls this winter, major drought era.

The three solutions being proposed in the report are:

• Doing nothing at all: That is obviously not a long-term option.
• Action Alternative One which prioritizes where the waters go which would benefit the farm and national food-feeding valleys of California.
• Action Alternative Two allocates an equal share of water across all participating states.

Arizona faces steep cuts in either action alternative. If Action Alternative One is adopted, the Grand Canyon State could lose up to two-thirds of the Colorado Waters it has access to. If the second alternative is chosen, Arizona would lose up to a third.

Reacting to the release of the report, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs issued a release where she stated:

“Arizona is committed to continuing our collaborative efforts with the Basin States, Colorado River Basin Tribes, and Mexico to find solutions that protect our reservoirs and stabilize the system. Outcomes that decimate the water supply of our population centers or that force the Basin into a courtroom are unacceptable – and we will continue to double down on our efforts to find a consensus path forward.”

“We cannot lose sight of the urgent need to protect and preserve our water resources for future generations. We must take action now to ensure a sustainable future for Arizona and the Colorado River Basin. As we review the Draft SEIS further and continue to work with our partners throughout the region, we will remain focused on equitable, durable solutions to ensure the long-term health of the Colorado River system.”

Following her State of the City address last week, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who attended last week’s Governor Hobbs-hosted drought resilience event, was asked about the report. She responded:

“This week has been a very important week for water. The federal government put out a very important declaration about how they may share the Colorado River cuts. So as folks in this room know, we are the lowest priority for the Colorado River and it is the lifeblood for this region. It is so important. Part of the reason I spent so much time today talking about water and is I want to demonstrate that we’re taking this very seriously. The federal government needs to know we understand water is a very scarce limited resource and that we will use it responsibly. There are some other stakeholders in the Colorado River discussions to sometimes paint us as not using it as responsibly. So, I hope we can all work together to do better in that area and really demonstrate that they should not make devastating cuts to us but we are also preparing for a drier future. We know we’re in a very long period of drought. Part of the reason we made the announcement today about the Advanced Water Purification Facility (in her State of the City Address, the Mayor noted that this facility will be able to recycle 60 million gallons of water a day when online.)